Model Railroading > Athearn Genesis disassembly

I am doing a kitbash on an Athearn Genesis GP-9 and need to remove the cab and separate the hood from the walkway. 
Any tips and tricks? I see some CA residue on the body tabs, so a touch of acetone there and some prying I would suppose. (it's a painted model)

Anyway, these things are a little quirky, so any words of advice would be appreciated. 

Thanks

Brian E

Acetone will melt plastic and won't help your factory paint job very much either. Put a new #17 blade in your X-Acto knife and slowly and carfuly carve away as much of the glue as you can until the only area with glue on it is the joint where the pieces come together. Next use a new #11 blade to clean of the area where the joint is.Now slowly try to break this last amount of adhesive by moving the parts back and forth and use the #11 blade to cut the joint until they separate.Clean up the rough edges where the joint came apart.Take your time and try to be neat and you should be fine.

Fredo Wrote:
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> Acetone will melt plastic and won't help your
> factory paint job very much either. Put a new #17
> blade in your X-Acto knife and slowly and carfuly
> carve away as much of the glue as you can until
> the only area with glue on it is the joint where
> the pieces come together. Next use a new #11 blade
> to clean of the area where the joint is.Now slowly
> try to break this last amount of adhesive by
> moving the parts back and forth and use the #11
> blade to cut the joint until they separate.Clean
> up the rough edges where the joint came apart.Take
> your time and try to be neat and you should be
> fine.


Thanks
B

I've heard (not tried) that you can put a CA joint in the freezer overnight and it will come loose the next day.

Kind of a shame the other MFR's haven't followed the lead of Kadee and Kato's glueless "puzzle" assembly. It's sometimes irritationg but there are never glue spots.

This is what I use. You folks need to move into the modern era lol. Bruce

https://www.micromark.com/Z-7-Debonder-1-oz-

 

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The debonder looks great and I'll get some for future use. 
For today, I went with Fredo's suggestion and had some success (though it took a fair amount of time to do it).

It CAN be done!

Brian E 

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Good job !

King_Coal Wrote:
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> I've heard (not tried) that you can put a CA joint
> in the freezer overnight and it will come loose
> the next day.

I tried that with an Intermountain (Red Caboose) PFE (ice) reefer. No go. But, what have ou got to lose trying, but a little time?

brfriedm Wrote:
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> This is what I use. You folks need to move into
> the modern era lol. Bruce

According to the MSDS (https://supergluemsds.com/Docs/PT-16%20-%20Z-7%20Debonder%20-%20Rev.%208%20-%202013.pdf), Z-7 is 90-98% acetone, and 2-10% "Other non-hazardous ingredients (proprietary)."

I wonder how those proprietrary non-hazardous ingredients are preventing the acetone from attacking the plastic.

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL